Poss new PC Spec.

whitevanman

whitevanman

Messages
248
Name
Graham
Edit My Images
Yes
2 questions really
1- does this spec. look ok
2- Has any body dealt with Chillblast.com

Xigmatek Asgard Black Case
Intel Core i5 2500K Processor 3.30 GHz (No Overclocking)
Intel Stock Cooler
Asus P8H67-M PRO Motherboard with USB 3.0
8GB PC3-10666 1333MHz DDR3 Memory (2 x 4GB sticks)
Chillblast AMD Radeon HD 5450 512MB Graphics Card
500GB 7200RPM Hard Disk
Sony 24x DVD-RW Drive
EZCool Basic 500W PSU
Onboard High Definition Audio
300Mbps 802.11n Wireless PCI Adaptor (for Wireless networks)
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
£562 built and delivered

Seems cheaper then alot of the other companies just wondered what I am missing
not that I am sceptical or anything :)
 
Hey there,

First of all, never heard of this company but there are a lot of these custom pc builders out there so I wasn't too surprised that I hadn't.

As Neil pointed out, most of these components are pretty basic and are budget parts, the HD5450 video card is nearly 2 years old for example.
The power supply is also budget and this could give you issues down the line if you want to put extra kit in it.

That motherboard also doesn't look like it's full size so again, you could run into expansion issues.

I guess the question is, what do you want the machine to do, is it for basic programs like web browsing, email or you wanting it for photo processing or gaming?

Cheers

Al
 
No point in a 2500K with a H67 board as you can't overclock the processor. A 2500 would be equivalent and cheaper. Personally, I'd want a P67/Z68 based board. As others, I'd also be concerned by the PSU.
 
Weegi said:
Hey there,

First of all, never heard of this company but there are a lot of these custom pc builders out there so I wasn't too surprised that I hadn't.

As Neil pointed out, most of these components are pretty basic and are budget parts, the HD5450 video card is nearly 2 years old for example.
The power supply is also budget and this could give you issues down the line if you want to put extra kit in it.

That motherboard also doesn't look like it's full size so again, you could run into expansion issues.

I guess the question is, what do you want the machine to do, is it for basic programs like web browsing, email or you wanting it for photo processing or gaming?

Cheers

Al
Click to expand...

It will be for photo processing
 
In that case you really want to look for a video card that has at least 1GB of memory as standard (min model I would be looking at, would be the HD6770, has 800 cores and it probably gives you the best core to cost ratio for the AMD chipsets)

The next things to look at are CPU, nearly all the new i5 chipsets have the grunt you need but again, as it's been stated, if you do go for a "k" model then make sure the motherboard will support overclocking, as you may do that down the line.

PSU wise, I would look at seeing if they have an option for a more "well known" make (Coolermaster, Antec, Thermaltake)

Also, have you got a monitor in mind, I'm sure most folk will say that this is probably one of the most important areas to consider.

Try a few of the other custom builders (Ginger 6 etc) and see if they come out reasonable.
 
Ref the company, We recently purchased a system for my son from them for Christmas, it was of a higher spec and cost quite a bit more, had a few bits added aswell, its very well built and uses all top make components, so for us the company is fine, not sure about after care but I have had plenty of hassle in the past from both Dell and Mesh so I guess you take ya chances..... Chilblast get some very good reviews in pc magazines if you browse on line you will find plenty of info.

Dean

Dean
 
Weegi said:
In that case you really want to look for a video card that has at least 1GB of memory as standard (min model I would be looking at, would be the HD6770, has 800 cores and it probably gives you the best core to cost ratio for the AMD chipsets)
.
Click to expand...

A 6770 is overkill for photo editing, up to recently I was running 2x 22" on a 4550. Unless youre running cs5 which has acceleration, even then it's negligible.
 
Weegi said:
In that case you really want to look for a video card that has at least 1GB of memory as standard (min model I would be looking at, would be the HD6770, has 800 cores and it probably gives you the best core to cost ratio for the AMD chipsets)

The next things to look at are CPU, nearly all the new i5 chipsets have the grunt you need but again, as it's been stated, if you do go for a "k" model then make sure the motherboard will support overclocking, as you may do that down the line.

PSU wise, I would look at seeing if they have an option for a more "well known" make (Coolermaster, Antec, Thermaltake)

Also, have you got a monitor in mind, I'm sure most folk will say that this is probably one of the most important areas to consider.

Try a few of the other custom builders (Ginger 6 etc) and see if they come out reasonable.
Click to expand...
Cheers for the heads up ref. Ginger 6 just had a look and better spec for same money ish
 
That's good Graham, if you want to see some of the performance stats of the parts then you can have a look at sites such as http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/.
You can do comparisons on GPU's etc & hard drives. I know it might not mean much now, but a pc is usually a 4 year investment for folk so you want to have a good level of future proofing..next, get a SSD drive .. adds go faster stripes to your machine.. (y) ..maybe not now, but one for the future for sure. :D
 
What about this from Ginger 6
- 00 - CPU - Intel Core i5 2500K (4x 3.3ghz) 6mb Cache
- 00 - CPU Cooler - Standard Intel CPU Cooler
- 01 - Case - Cooler Master Elite 342 Black M-ATX Case
- 01 - Case Fans - Standard case fans
- 01 - Power Supply - 500w Cooler Master
- 02 - Motherboard Asus P8Z68-V LX - Z68, SATA600, USB 3.0, SSD Cache, Crossfire
- 03 - Memory - 8gb Kingston DDR3 1333mhz (2x 4gb)
- 04 - Hard Drive 1 - 500gb SATA3 Hard Drive (UDMA 600)
- 04 - Hard Drive 2 - ----------------
- 04 - Hard Drive 3 - ----------------
- 04 - Hard Drive 4 - ----------------
- 05 - Optical Drive 1 - Dual Layer DVDRW Drive
- 05 - Optical Drive 2 - ----------------
- 06 - Card Reader - ----------------
- 07 - Graphics - 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 520
- 08 - Soundcard Integrated Soundcard
- 08 - Wireless LAN 300mbps Wireless LAN Card
- 09 - Keyboard & Mouse - ----------------
- 10 - Speakers - ----------------
- 11 - Operating System windows7 64 bit
- 12 - Office - ----------------
- 13 - Antivirus - ----------------
- 13 - Other Software - ----------------
- 14 - Monitor - ----------------
- 15 - Warranty - 1 Year Collect and Return Warranty (Mainland UK ONLY)
- 17 - External Hard Drive - ----------------
£629
 
Last edited:
Or this from PC specialist

Case Delivery STYLISH PIANO BLACK ENIGMA CASE + 2 FRONT USB
Processor (CPU) Build Time Intel® CoreTMi5-2500k Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard ASUS® P8Z68-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM) 8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card 1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GT 520 - DVI,HDMI,VGA - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 500GB SATA-II 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply 450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£29)
Processor Cooling INTEL SOCKET LGA1155 STANDARD CPU COOLER
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)
USB Options 2 PORT USB 3.0 INTERNAL PCI EXPRESS CARD
Modem NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
(£5)
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
£649
 
Thanks for the replys so far.
I have bought a Dell IPS monitor so just need a PC that will run lightroom 3 and CS5
hopefully around the £600 mark if thats possible
 
whitevanman said:
Or this from PC specialist

Case Delivery STYLISH PIANO BLACK ENIGMA CASE + 2 FRONT USB
Processor (CPU) Build Time Intel® CoreTMi5-2500k Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard ASUS® P8Z68-V LX: USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, ATI®CrossFireX
Memory (RAM) 8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card 1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GT 520 - DVI,HDMI,VGA - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 500GB SATA-II 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply 450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£29)
Processor Cooling INTEL SOCKET LGA1155 STANDARD CPU COOLER
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)
USB Options 2 PORT USB 3.0 INTERNAL PCI EXPRESS CARD
Modem NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
(£5)
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
£649
Click to expand...

Still have to question the quality of parts like a 29 quid "450w" psu to be honest
 
Personally I've built my own PC's since last 10 years. And would always carry on building my own machine as I can pick exactly what I want in it. But some of the dell deals are very good specially when you price the components individually, they tend to work out cheaper than building your own.
 
Last edited:
Weegi said:
In that case you really want to look for a video card that has at least 1GB of memory as standard (min model I would be looking at, would be the HD6770, has 800 cores and it probably gives you the best core to cost ratio for the AMD chipsets)
Click to expand...
Why?

The ONLY thing Photoshop uses acceleration for is 2D image manipulation unless you are doing 3D stuff. CUDA processing is not implemented in CS5 and only OpenGL is used for 2D image manipulations. The bottom line is the processor is far FAR more important than the graphics card for photo work.

Here is a link to Adobes site saying what is and isn't accelerated in PS5: http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/404/kb404898.html

Of the systems that have been suggested, the one from Ginger 6 looks the best value. If you are likely to do ANY HD video encoding an i7-2600K based system would be much faster than an i5 solution....
 
arad85 said:
Why?

The ONLY thing Photoshop uses acceleration for is 2D image manipulation unless you are doing 3D stuff. CUDA processing is not implemented in CS5 and only OpenGL is used for 2D image manipulations. The bottom line is the processor is far FAR more important than the graphics card for photo work.

Here is a link to Adobes site saying what is and isn't accelerated in PS5: http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/404/kb404898.html

Of the systems that have been suggested, the one from Ginger 6 looks the best value. If you are likely to do ANY HD video encoding an i7-2600K based system would be much faster than an i5 solution....
Click to expand...

As I dont even know what HD video encoding is I dont think I will be doing any of that:LOL:
 
arad85 said:
Why?

The ONLY thing Photoshop uses acceleration for is 2D image manipulation unless you are doing 3D stuff. CUDA processing is not implemented in CS5 and only OpenGL is used for 2D image manipulations. The bottom line is the processor is far FAR more important than the graphics card for photo work.

Here is a link to Adobes site saying what is and isn't accelerated in PS5: http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/404/kb404898.html

Of the systems that have been suggested, the one from Ginger 6 looks the best value. If you are likely to do ANY HD video encoding an i7-2600K based system would be much faster than an i5 solution....
Click to expand...

The better the GPU & memory, the higher the resolution you can run your monitor at and quicker the redraws will be be, it gives you the flexibility of doing more with the machine, outside of photoshop too.

I'm just going on experience, the new range of CPU's i5 & i7 are more than capable for any photo processing you need to do.

The Ginger 6 machine is a good spec Graham, (y)
 
Weegi said:
The better the GPU & memory, the higher the resolution you can run your monitor at and quicker the redraws will be be, it gives you the flexibility of doing more with the machine, outside of photoshop too.
Click to expand...

as per my last, even a lowly (by todays standards) 4550 ran twin 2209WA fine. it even ran black ops on reasonable settings.
 
Weegi said:
The better the GPU & memory, the higher the resolution you can run your monitor at and quicker the redraws will be be, it gives you the flexibility of doing more with the machine, outside of photoshop too.
Click to expand...
I run 2x1920x1200 monitors at 32bit depth. At idle, it uses 10.24Mbytes of my video memory to run these monitors (I run GPU Meter as a sidebar tool). It runs around 256Mbytes used (of 1Gbyte) when running LR and PS5 simultaneously with a few raw files open.

I've just run a few tests of the hardware accelerated features (which are primarily 2D image moves/zooms, see: http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/405/kb405745.html) and I get very little GPU usage on an underclocked passive GT450. In the past I have successfully run PS and LR on an 8400 and GT525 without a visible performance hitch. I also have a laptop with Optimus technology (and a 1920x1080 resolution display) which means I can run PS5 with either the external 525 graphics core or the internal Intel HD3000 core. Again, no discernible difference for redraw performance between the two.

Given modern day card processing capabilities, the LAST thing you should spend money on is the graphics card - assuming something reasonable to start with - unless you want to do some gaming.
 
Weegi said:
The better the GPU & memory, the higher the resolution you can run your monitor at and quicker the redraws will be be, it gives you the flexibility of doing more with the machine, outside of photoshop too.

I'm just going on experience, the new range of CPU's i5 & i7 are more than capable for any photo processing you need to do.

The Ginger 6 machine is a good spec Graham, (y)
Click to expand...

Looks like the Ginger 6 machine could be the one to go for unless anybody can see any thing I am missing!
 
whitevanman said:
Looks like the Ginger 6 machine could be the one to go for unless anybody can see any thing I am missing!
Click to expand...
The only thing I'd do is swap the 500G drive for a 1TB drive. You also don't get any benefit from SATA3 on that drive either (you can't get HDDs that will saturate SATA2 let alone SATA3). Are you able to swap the disk out for a SATA2 1TB drive for similar cost?

Also, do you need the Wireless LAN card or will wired be OK. May be able to save money there too...
 
Whatever you decide, Google your proposed supplier at length and read customers' reviews. I don't know anything about Cillblast, but there are some real duffers out there whose customer service is non-existent.

I can wholeheartedly recommend http://www.cougar-extreme.co.uk/

They built my i7 based system which has and is superb. They were always there at the end of the phone line to answer my stupid questions and were endlessly patient. I have no connection with them other than as a very happy customer.
 
Hi Graham,

Ginger 6 are a good, well established company so you won't go wrong there.
I know a few folk have jumped on my video card remarks but everyone will have an opinion and only you will know what cost to performance ratio you will be happy with..

What ever you get, I'm sure it will do the trick.

Take it easy...

Al
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top